It might surprise you to know that total healthcare spending in America is more than $10,000 for every man, woman, and child – annually.[1] This total includes the money paid by private insurance companies, the Veterans Administration, Medicare, Medicaid, and the money paid directly by patients to doctors and hospitals, divided by the number of citizens. This is a big problem for you – and your kids.

On top of this, we do not get our money’s worth. According to the CIA, we are ranked the 42th country in the world for life expectancy[2]. Equally shocking, we spend just about twice as much per citizen as any other developed “rich” country where people live longer.[3]

On a weekend afternoon about seven years ago, Yusef Wiley scanned the dining hall of California’s Avenal State Prison. Inmates in powder-blue shirts and navy pants shuffled across the outdoor recreation area and past a set of large windows into his domestic-violence prevention class. Wiley, then also a prisoner, counted at least 40 men sidling up to the metal seats protruding from the dining tables.

“Who was incarcerated for domestic violence?” he asked the inmates. Nearly half of the room raised their hands. When he asked who…

Thirty percent of rural Americans have substandard housing—and it’s expensive. But these communities are finding ways to give low-income residents homes of their own.

by Melissa Hellmann

posted on “Yes! Magazine” Sep 22, 2016

For Debbie Green, purchasing a home was a dream come true. The 56-year-old resident of rural Elkins, West Virginia, suffers from five types of debilitating epileptic seizures, and had been renting a friend’s mobile home at a discounted rate. Unable to work, she got by on monthly disability payments of about $900, but was still struggling to pay her utility bills. Sometimes, at the end of the month, she had only $4 in the bank and wondered if she would need to cu…

Encouraging children to form an emotional attachment to nature may be key to protecting our planet’s future.

by Jill Suttie as posted in “Yes!” magazine

Sep 24, 2016

Originally posted by “Greater Good”

We read it in the news every day. From climate change to overfishing to deforestation, it seems that we are on the brink of a natural disaster on an epic scale. If we cannot do something to reverse these trends, we will surely make our planet uninhabitable.

But how do we encourage people—especially our kids—to care more and take action?

Scientists are starting to uncover how to encourage that compassionate concern in children. Social scientists are beginning to look for answers to this question with some prom…